Mumbai:

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on May 17, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said on Wednesday.

Mr Bawankule was speaking to reporters after meeting MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who has announced his party’s support to BJP-led NDA’s candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

“PM Modi will address a poll rally at Shivaji Park on Friday (May 17). I invited Raj Thackeray for the rally and he has agreed to attend it,” said the BJP leader.

“Thackeray’s support (to NDA candidates) and his appeal to voters will reflect in the (poll) outcome. We have asked Raj to join us for the poll campaign in the next few days,” he said.

On Wednesday, the PM addressed two elections in Maharashtra — in Nashik and Thane districts — in support of NDA nominees and also held a roadshow in Mumbai.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pune:

MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Friday said that “despite being with” NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar all these years, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar never indulged in caste politics.

Mr Thackeray, whose party is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections but supporting the ruling coalition of the BJP, Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, was speaking at a campaign rally here.

“I may have had many differences with Ajit Pawar, but I can say one thing: he never indulged in caste politics. Despite being with Sharad Pawar, I have not seen him indulging in caste politics ever,” said Mr Thackeray, praising Ajit and at the same time taking potshots at Pawar senior.

The “venom” of caste politics started spreading in Maharashtra since 1999, the MNS chief said, in apparent reference to Sharad Pawar forming the Nationalist Congress Party in that year after leaving Congress.

Raj Thackeray had accused the senior Pawar of playing the caste card and dividing society in the past too.

The MNS chief highlighted the issues faced by the cities in terms of basic amenities, and said if there was no proper management, they would collapse.

“In order to divert attention from these issues, some leaders are involving you in caste (politics). I had on numerous occasions urged you to free yourself of caste politics. Think about yourself and your life,” he said to the gathering.

He also claimed that ‘fatwas’ were being issued from mosques to vote for Congress. “Today, I issue a `fatwa’ to vote for the candidates of BJP, Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kankavali (Maha):

MNS president Raj Thackeray on Saturday claimed that his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray would not have said anything against the BJP if the saffron party had accepted his demand of Maharashtra chief minister’s post.

Speaking at a campaign rally here for Union minister Narayan Rane, BJP candidate from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency, Raj Thackeray also justified his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing the construction of the Ram Temple and abrogation of Article 370 among other reasons.

Notably, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief had supported Modi in 2014, he had launched scathing attack on the prime minister in rally after rally before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“I did not agree with (Modi’s) stand (in 2019). It was not that I wanted something in return (for supporting him again now),” Raj Thackeray said in his first rally in support of the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance in Maharashtra.

“If the BJP had accepted your (Uddhav Thackeray’s) proposal of sharing the chief minister’s post for two-and-half years, would you have said the things you are saying today? You would have kept mum for power,” Raj Thackeray said.

Uddhav Thackeray broke off his party’s decades-long alliance with the BJP after the state polls in 2019 as the saffron party was not ready to share the CM’s post with him.

Raj Thackeray, meanwhile, countered Shiv Sena (UBT)’s charge that investments were being diverted from Maharashtra, asking what Uddhav did when he was an ally of the ruling BJP from 2014 to 2019, and later when he was chief minister from 2019 to 2022.

“You (Uddhav) were in power for seven and a half years. Why did investments go out? Why were you quiet?” the MNS chief asked.

Raj Thackeray also attacked Uddhav Thackeray for opposing big-ticket projects like the Jaitapur Nuclear Power plant and an oil refinery in Konkan on the pretext that the coastal region’s ecology will be damaged.

There were instances where sitting Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP of Shiv Sena (UBT) Vinayak Raut (who has been renominated by his party) would oppose a project, while local MLA of the same party would back it, he claimed

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The BJP has realised that only the Thackeray name gets votes in Maharashtra and so they are trying to “steal a Thackeray,” former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said today on the meeting between Raj Thackeray and Union minister Amit Shah. The MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) chief, who is also the estranged cousin of Mr Thackeray, was in Delhi today, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He said he had been “called”.

Speaking at a gathering in Nanded district, Uddhav Thackeray said the BJP “knows very well that they don’t get votes in the name of PM Narendra Modi in Maharashtra… People vote here in the name of (Bal) Thackeray”.

“This realisation prompted the BJP to try to steal leaders from outside.  First, they stole the photo of Bal Thackeray, but it doesn’t matter,” he said, in what was seen as an arch reference to Eknath Shinde, who is partnering the BJP.  

Mr Thackeray’s Shiv Sena was split over what rebel leader Eknath Shinde — who subsequently became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra — called the legacy of party founder Bal Thackeray. The leader, who accused Mr Thackeray of deviating from the Hindutva ideology of Bal Thackeray, who was also his father, had later credited the BJP with masterminding the split.

“Today, they are trying to steal another Thackeray….take it. My people and I are enough,” Uddhav Thackeray then added, brushing off his cousin and the ultra slim niche appeal he has.

The MNS, formed in 2006 after the cousins parted ways and depending on the anti-outsiders plank, has made little headway politically. From 13 assembly seats in 2008, it is now down to a single seat, won in 2019.

Mr Thackeray, whose party is part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi and the INDIA bloc, also claimed even Christians and Muslims are comfortable with his brand of Hindutva.

“The image of Shiv Sena (undivided) was getting sullied when we were with the BJP. But since we severed ties with them, even members of Christian and Muslim communities are saying that they have no issues with our Hindutva ideology,” he added.

Senior MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said the talks were “positive”. The MNS, it is learnt, wants three seats – South Mumbai, Shirdi and Nashik.